In a communication system, information is transmitted through a physical channel from a source to a destination. For example, a DOCSIS system can be used to deliver high-definition digital entertainment and telecommunications such as video, voice, and high-speed Internet over a cable network between a headend and a cable modem located at a subscriber premise. The cable network can take the form of an all-coax, all-fiber, or hybrid fiber/coax (HFC) network. Unfortunately, physical channels are imperfect and, therefore, distort the transmitted signal causing transmission errors in the receiver.
An equalizer can be used to compensate for the distortion caused by a physical channel. However, the performance of existing equalizers degrades in the presence of burst errors.